Last week our strikers in Pittsburgh won big! They received an incredible decision by a three-judge panel at the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. The judges ordered the company repeal more than five years of worker rights violations and to compensate the workers impacted by violations of federal law.
And this week our strikers announced that they voted to end their three-year-plus-long strike and make an offer to return to work. This would end the longest current strike in the United States. (Our local president also cut off his long hair, which he refused to do until the strike ended.)
“The wheels of justice move nowhere near quickly enough. But it’s clear that our sacrifice has made this day and the soon-to-be improved working conditions at the Post-Gazette possible,” said Andrew Goldstein, a striking education reporter and the president of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh. “Every single step of the way, we have told the company and decisionmakers within it that this is what would happen.”
The company has said that this ruling could force them to close. Can you imagine? Breaking the law is bad business?
“They could’ve saved so much money and trouble by listening to us then,” Goldstein said. “It’s certainly time for them to listen to us now, comply with the order, and get down to bargaining a new contract with the old contract in place.”
The company spent millions of dollars paying lawyers to defend them breaking the law. They could have (and still can) settle and follow federal law.
I’m incredibly proud of our strikers. They have been fighting every single day of the last 1,128 days to hold the company to account for violating the law. Read our strikers’ coverage in the Pittsburgh Union Progress.
We don’t yet know how the company will react to our offer to return to work. They said they’ll appeal this decision. But it’s clear they’ve run out of appeals.
Join me in donating to their strike fund.
The fund helps strikers pay rent, buy food and cover unexpected expenses and other bills that have piled up over the course of three-plus years on strike. Your solidarity literally means the world.
Condé Nast fired four of our leaders after they questioned an executive for laying off colleagues and closing Teen Vogue. Our New York members quickly rallied outside Condé’s headquarters, which just so happens to be the tallest building in the U.S. I joined about 200 members outside One World Trade Center. Also present? Several local and state elected officials including New York Attorney General Letitia James.
It was just above freezing and windy, but we were fired up! James and the rest of us called on Condé to reinstate the fired four.
“Let’s be clear: New York is a union town,” she said. “Let’s also be clear: the right to organize is enshrined in our laws. And as the attorney general of the state of New York, it’s my entire responsibility to ensure that the laws are enforced.”
“Condé Nast, I’ll see you in court,” she said. Read more in Business Insider.
Two of the “fired four” also spoke at the rally. They, along with several others, went to Condé’s “chief people officer” Stan Duncan with questions about the closure of Teen Vogue and the resulting layoffs. Stan ran away to avoid questions. And then he illegally fired our members.
“We are here tonight sending a message to Condé Nast that we will not be bullied, we will not be intimidated and we will not back down,” said Alma Avalle, a writer and web producer at Bon Appétit and a vice president at the NewsGuild of New York. “Instead we are going to fight for our colleagues, fight for our contract and fight for our rights as workers and as journalists.”
“Because when we fight,” she opened for the start of a chant. “We win!” the crowd returned.
Ben Dewey, director of cinematography at Condé, was another member of the fired four. He spoke of a time, before they were unionized, when he and his colleagues found out that chefs of color were being paid less than the white chefs on a series for Bon Appétit. They organized a work stoppage before they were officially a union.
“We definitely didn’t know that this would eventually lead to unionizing the entire company,” Dewey said. But he read an article in Teen Vogue about what a union was and how it works. Now they have a collective agreement, which the company has violated by illegally firing workers and ignoring our contractual right to just cause.
“Make no mistake, our strength is our solidarity,” he said. “We are courageous, we are united and we refuse to be intimidated. If you target one of us the whole union has our back!”
SAG-AFTRA also released a statement calling for the fired four to be reinstated. “When institutions that hire journalists infringe on their employee’s right to collective action it calls into question those institutions’ commitment to inquiry and journalistic integrity. It also threatens all unionized journalists and their ability to speak truth to power.”
More than 4,300 people have signed our petition to reinstate Alma, Jake, Jasper and Ben.
The NY Daily News Union has ratified their first contract in more than three decades, marking a major victory for the journalists over vulture-fund Alden Global Capital. Every participating members voted to ratify the agreement 一 a testament to the unity and perseverance that drove this campaign.
[link screenshot of bluesky post]
The moment of ratification was punctuated by a line that perfectly captured the spirit of the newsroom. As soon as the vote closed, street reporter Kerry Burke chimed in: “Okay, I got a homicide. I gotta go.”
This hard-won contract, reached after years of organizing and with strong support from New Yorkers, reflects a turning point for Daily News journalists under Alden Global Capital. It underscores the growing momentum of media workers standing together to protect local news and the community it serves.
The Canadian Media Guild will have new leaders in January after a competitive election wrapped last week. The local union represents about 5,500 workers, mostly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but also at TVO, Pagemasters, Canadian Press, Canada’s National Observer, Zoomer Media and others.
Jane Robertson won the office of national president, Sangeeta Patel won the office of director of human rights and equity and Arman Aghbali won the director of precarious workers. See the results and everyone else who was acclaimed in the election.
Starbucks workers are on strike as of Thursday last week. Thousands of baristas have unionized at hundreds of stores and they’re demanding a fair contract. Our union also represents many of the union organizers who support the baristas. So be sure to honor their picket line and refuse to go to Starbucks until the workers let us know. You can follow them on most social media platforms, buy swag or donate to their strike fund.
Journalists at the Washingtonian in D.C. rallied outside the office demanding a fair contract now. Workers organized four years ago and have been fighting for a first collective agreement ever since. The message to CEO Cathy Merrill is to agree to livable salaries and a fair contract. Send Merrill a letter if you agree.
We joined our family in the United Kingdom and Ireland condemning President Trump’s threats to sue the BBC. The National Union of Journalists represents those workers and called last week for governance reform at the public broadcaster.
“The NewsGuild-CWA stands with our family at the National Union of Journalists and BBC journalists and media workers,” I said in a statement. “We join the NUJ’s call defending the professional integrity of NUJ members at the BBC and support their demand for sustainable funding to safeguard public service journalism.”
The NewsGuild is still accepting applications for a Campaign Lead to channel the energy of our members, community supporters and policy stakeholders into winning legislative initiatives.
The ideal candidate will have experience running multiple organizing campaigns and the strategic skills necessary to inspire and activate workers to take action. The position is hybrid and based in Washington, DC.
Interested applicants apply here.
Have you experienced interference or intimidation by federal agents? If so, we want to hear from you. We’re interested in hearing from members who have personally experienced, witnessed or are aware of interference, intimidation or retaliation by U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection or other federal immigration agents while covering immigration enforcement activity, including raids and arrests. Interference, intimidation and retaliation can take multiple forms, including verbal threats (to stop or arrest, invoking a criminal statute, etc.), physical threats (e.g. a raised gun), physical interference (e.g. touching you or your equipment, pushing you, etc.), arrest and detention. If you’ve experienced this, please let us know.
In solidarity,
Jon Schleuss
President, The NewsGuild-CWA